Using the spontaneously hypertensive rat model previously developed in this laboratory, a comparison was made of the protective effect of 2 iron chelators, desferrioxamine and ICRF-187, against the chronic cardiotoxicity produced by doxorubicin. The results obtained show that desferrioxamine is a less effective cardioprotectant than ICRF-187, probably because of its lower capacity for entering the intracellular pools of iron in the myocardium.